Chapter 129: Picking Her Up
Liu Man told Li Xiaoru, “My friend is picking me up, and I’ll wait for him outside.”
Li Xiaoru hooked onto her arm, “I’ll wait with you.”
The two girls walked out of the dorm and stopped acknowledging Wang Nina’s presence.
The school did not care much about whether students continued to live at school throughout the year, so lots of them rented a place outside of school. It was why even if the dorm’s doors got locked, Li Xiaoru told the monitor that they had a business to attend to, and the monitor opened the door and let them go.
Liu Man and Li Xiaoru did not walk anywhere else but waited right at the entrance of the dorm. With Liu Man’s backpack and luggage standing beside their feet, it looked as if they got kicked out.
After the conflict with Wang Nina, none of them was in a good mood. After a long period of silence, Li Xiaoru said, “I shouldn’t have told Wang Nina about you acting in a movie.”
“It’s okay. The movie’s going to get released one day, and she would know about it sooner or later.”
“I don’t know why, but I have an anxious and inauspicious feeling,” Li Xiaoru said with one hand on her chest, “I’m so worried that Wang Nina is going to spread rumors all over the school. What if something bad gets into Fangfei’s ears… Nothing will happen to our Ensemble Chamber Music performance, right?”
“Fangfei’s not the kind of person who believes in others easily. I trust that she is moral.”
“Hopefully, you’re right.”
After twenty minutes, Yu Zhan’s Volvo drove into the two girls’ sight.
“Man Man, your friend…” The rest of Li Xiaoru’s words were stuck in her throat.
Because she saw Yu Zhan got out of the car.
Li Xiaoru could swear this person was the most handsome man she had seen ever since she was born, and he was even more handsome than those celebrities on TV. She didn’t even dare to look at his face, for she was already astonished just with that one glance she stole just now. She subconsciously connected him to the appearance of a prince. Aiya, this is such a cheesy thought. She was admiring his good looks.
Yu Zhan walked onto the stairs. Liu Man did not affect him with her bad mood and smiled as she said to him, “Thank you for coming to pick me up. She’s my roommate and also my best friend, Li Xiaoru.”
She then introduced Yu Zhan to Li Xiaoru, “He is my friend: Yu Zhan.”
“Hello,” Yu Zhan smiled gently at Li Xiaoru as if he was friends with every friend of Liu Man’s.
She was staring at such a face closely. This smile… He was smiling right at her…
The carefree Li Xiaoru surprisingly blushed.
Handsome men are trouble. Handsome men are trouble.
That Professor Zhu Xiyang Wang Nina liked was nothing compared with him.
Li Xiaoru summoned all the courage she had to look at Yu Zhan in the eyes and said, “Hello,” before immediately lowering her head. She was chickening.
Yu Zhan felt this girl was cute because she showed every thought on her face. No wonder she was Liu Man’s friend; they were all very ingenuous and pure.
“Thank you for waiting with Man Man at such a late time. I’ll treat you to a meal when I find the chance to,” Yu Zhan said.
Li Xiaoru hurriedly shook her head, “It’s okay; you don’t need to. There is no need.”
Yu Zhan laughed lightly, “You are Man Man’s friend, so I’m obliged to treat you to a meal. It’s a good chance for us to become friends.”
Such a tone. Such words. Only the boyfriend of Man Man’s would say them like that, right?
This man must like Man Man.
Li Xiaoru soon came up with a theory and chuckled inwardly. She immediately changed her answer, “Sure, sure! We need to have a meal together. Why don’t you treat me, Man Man, and Fangfei to a meal together on the day we finish our performance?”
Yu Zhan conveniently tried to get information out of her, “When are you performing?”
“Our teacher said it’s either going to be on May 9th or May 10th, morning or afternoon. This means there are four times it could happen, but as they will randomize it, we don’t know which time we’ll get.
“It’s almost May.”
“Yeah. After they randomize and tell us the results, I’ll notify you. By the way, we girls have a huge appetite, so tell your wallet to be careful.”
Since he was Man Man’s pursuer, then he had to befriend Man Man’s friends. Li Xiaoru was no longer cowardly but became brave and dared to make jokes about Yu Zhan.
Liu Man sneakily pulled on Li Xiaoru’s shirt hem from the back, but she quietly waved the hand away as if she was shooing away annoying bees.
Yu Zhan couldn’t help but laugh at the girls’ cute movements.
“It’s getting too late, and you should get back to your dorm,” Liu Man urged Li Xiaoru and pulled her into the dorm behind them.
Li Xiaoru, struggling, shouted at Yu Zhan, “You need to be a man of your words. Remember to treat us to a meal!”
Yu Zhan gave her an “OK” hand gesture, “Of course, it’s a promise.”
After finally escorting Li Xiaoru back to the dorm, Liu Man walked back out and asked Yu Zhan, “Are you going to treat us to a meal?”
“I always keep my promises, and I never take back what I said,” Yu Zhan looked at Liu Man’s eyes and said in a tone as if he got mistreated, “You’ve already met my friends. Are you saying I cannot meet yours?”
“No, not at all,” Liu Man fell into his trap again, “You can meet them if you want to. It’s not a big deal anyway.”
Yu Zhan smiled proudly, “We can talk about other things in the car. I’ll drive you home first.”
“Give me a ride to any hotel that’s close to the school. I’ve originally told my mother that I’m not going home and am staying at school, so she must’ve already slept. She has been so exhausted in the day, and I don’t want to disrupt her sleeping.”
She had already planned on living at school, but she suddenly decided not to.
Yu Zhan frowned as he made a prediction. He had long noticed the big backpack beside her feet, and he guessed she had a conflict with her roommate.
But he didn’t ask much. He was a man, and it wasn’t appropriate for him to interfere with an argument between girls. All he had to do was protect Liu Man.
“You’re a girl; it’s not safe for you to live alone in a hotel room. Why don’t you come to my house for just one night, and I’ll send you back to school tomorrow? Since you’ve already lived in the guest room of my house before, you are already familiar with it.”
There wasn’t a single fallacy in his logic.
Yu Zhan had already prepared all kinds of reasons to respond to Liu Man’s rejection.
As a result, Liu Man lightly said, “Sure.”
He had a whole head full of reasons prepared, but now, they were useless.
Liu Man did not have any energy left to fight Yu Zhan. She had been practicing piano ever since she had dinner, and she was already tired. After that farce with Wang Nina, even her mind felt fatigued.
She agreed with whatever Yu Zhan said.
He picked up Liu Man’s backpack, which was very heavy, and put it in the trunk.
Liu Man finally completely relaxed on Yu Zhan’s car. She started feeling a bit drowsy, and Yu Zhan felt very sorry for how busy and tired she was.
“You can take a nap. We’re almost there.”
Liu Man responded with an “Mm.” Her voice was very soft, and it almost could not be heard.
After a while, Yu Zhan turned his head again to find the girl was already deep in her sleep.
TL’s Note: Rest assured. Li Xiaoru is NOT falling in love with Yu Zhan. :’)
Translated by: Sydney
Proofread by: DoraiO